Ohio State football: 5 reasons Bucks will dial up beatdown of Cincinnati

5. The Buckeyes will continue to build upon Justin Fields’ great debut

Believe it or not, the Buckeyes were in a tough spot last weekend. It was the season opener against a team with a notable head coach and the Buckeyes had many question marks on their own side. Justin Fields was making his first start as a Buckeye and Ryan Day was coaching in the first game of his head coaching career.

Things could not have went better for the Buckeyes in this game in the face of all of the things that could have went wrong. Fields went out and had a field day against FAU as he cruised to three touchdowns in the first half alone. He would end up with five total touchdowns including four of them being passing touchdowns. His rushing touchdown was his most impressive as he displayed top end speed to beat the entire defense for a 50 yard score on the first drive.

The Bearcats were led by quarterback Desmond Riddler last season. He was a big factor in their great success as he helped drastically improve their passing offense. The Bearcats’ passing offense went from 96th in the nation in 2017 to 30th last season. His 20 touchdown to 5 interceptions ratio was key to helping the Bearcats improve.

Ridder will return for the Bearcats after having a solid freshman season under his belt as well as a full off season as starter with the team. The Bearcats will also further improve as Fickell is now in his third season as head coach. The Bearcats could very easily jump into the spotlight for real this season after nearly making a splash on the scene last year.

Fields may have a more difficult time navigating against this Bearcats defense as they ranked 24th in the nation last season against the pass. This is quite a bit of an improvement considering Florida Atlantic was a mere 79th against the pass in comparison. However, Fields will still have an opportunity to make things happen with his ability to roll in the pocket.